Faced with a deadline to complete year 2000 projects for their mission-critical systems by June 30, several utilities issued statements yesterday saying they've met their deadline.

Utilities filed their reports to the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), an industry group based in Princeton, N.J. A summary of the June 30 reports is not yet available.

Utilities issuing public statements that they had completed their work include the Dairyland Power Cooperative in La Crosse, Wis.; Orange & Rockland Utilities in Pearl River, NY; Baltimore Gas & Electric; Indianapolis Power & Light; OG&E Services in Oklahoma City, OK; and the New York Power Authority.

The most recent NERC report states that, as of March 30, the industry had completed 75% of its year 2000 remediation and testing, but NERC noted that some utilities would not be able to schedule power plants for testing until a routine shutdown for maintenance later this year, and that some vendors would not have brought their products into compliance until after June 30.